NASA’s New Mission: Muslim Outreach and Uninspired Futility

In January, we reported that President Obama was redefining NASA’s mission, and entirely cutting its role in the manned exploration of space. This was not a matter of budget prudence as NASA’s piece of the federal pie was actually increasing by $300 million. According the Orlando Sentinel at the time: “The White House will direct NASA to concentrate on Earth-science projects — principally, researching and monitoring climate change.” And unlike the rest of President Obama’s government growth strategy, this shift to make NASA a global warming centered agency resulted in net job losses. So what has happened since January? Things have gotten much, much worse for NASA.

In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation’s space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to “re-inspire children” to study science and math, to “expand our international relationships,” and to “reach out to the Muslim world.” Of those three goals, Bolden said in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, the mission to reach out to Muslims is “perhaps foremost,” because it will help Islamic nations “feel good” about their scientific accomplishments. In the same interview, Bolden also said the United States, which first sent men to the moon in 1969, is no longer capable of reaching beyond low earth orbit without help from other nations.

So beyond the global warming aspect of NASA’s new mission, as exemplified by proposed dollars, Charles Bolden has now revealed that President Obama’s explicit mission for NASA is Muslim outreach and international inspiration. Never mind that nothing about President Obama’s vision for NASA is inspiring to America, yet alone the international community.

In fact, Administrator Bolden went out of his way to suck any inspiration left in American children, when he told Al Jazeera in the same interview: “We’re not going to go anywhere beyond low earth orbit as a single entity. The United States can’t do it, China can’t do it — no single nation is going to go to a place like Mars alone.” Are you feeling inspired? The nation that single-handily put man on the moon is absolutely incapable of achieving greatness in the future, according to our president’s NASA administrator. And our children are left to be inspired by Obama’s international greatness rather than dreams of becoming astronauts. This is really happening America.

Administrator Bolden went on to describe NASA as an “Earth improvement agency” which surely would confuse President Kennedy and other leaders who have sought to inspire the world through stellar achievement rather than platitudes. As Charles Krauthammer said yesterday: “This is a new height in fatuousness…NASA was established to get America into space and to keep us there. This idea to feel good about their past and to make achievements is the worst combination of group therapy, psychobabble, imperial condescension and adolescent diplomacy.”

Of course, the Democrat Party establishment, via their Media Matters outlet, were quick to point out that this hullabaloo is merely right-wing noise about the word “Muslim” which of course misses the point entirely, and merely tries to drown criticism of Obama with the age-old liberal mantra that everyone who doesn’t share their worldview is a racist. Substitute the word ‘Muslim’ for any other group, ethnicity or religion, and President Obama is still failing to comprehend that this is not what most Americans view as an appropriate role for NASA.

Congress should demand that President Obama and Administrator Bolden directly address questions on the future of NASA and his vision. President George W. Bush’s clearly laid out Vision for Space Exploration is obviously not a part of it. Under President Bush, NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale was charged with ensuring Bush’s vision would achieve his goal of transcending presidents and politics. She failed. Politics has never been more evident at NASA. We’re left with an agency in chaos and a president whose vision of America’s greatness lies in our humility, rather than our shining example.

NASA deserves better. America deserves better. All of mankind, who NASA has inspired for fifty years, deserve better.

Rory Cooper is Director of Strategic Communications at The Heritage Foundation. In this position, Cooper coordinates the think tank’s external message and internal communications, manages its entire digital communications and social media portfolios, and develops new media partnerships. Cooper also serves as the executive editor for The Foundry, the conservative policy news blog at Heritage.

Join The Discussion

If anything excited me to become what I am Nasa would rank high on the list. I am an Electrical Engineering major. John F. Kennedy once said "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other thing not because they are easy but because they are hard." I might be paraphrasing there, but the point is simple, America is a great nation, not was, to say we can't do something is damaging to the next generation of kids that will grow up to find math and science challenging, and then give up. Math and science do not come easy for most people, and many give up while they are on the verge. I was excited about the space program and what humans can achieve I feel betrayed by this president.

It's not part of NASA's job to inspire children. It's to ensure preeminence in space. By happy chance doing that DOES inspire children. By eliminating that which made us great Obama undercuts his own stated goals which calls into question what his UNSTATED goals are, which seem to diminish America and Americans in all respects.

Actually, I've seen a little of the interview, and will be seeing the rest tonight at home (for some reason my employer expects me to do what I'm paid for) and then I will pass my own judgment on what was said.

Assumptions are a great place to start, but they must always be tested.

“Never mind that nothing about President Obama’s vision for NASA is inspiring to America”

Absolutely, and there are no children in the U.S.; so, obviously, the children he is charged to inspire are illegal aliens or foreigners, probably Muslim.

Your readers probably don’t read the article themselves, that would be a challenge to their world view. Therefore it doesn’t matter that what you wrote isn’t true. They probably just read what you write and assume that is correct, because that confirms their world view.

Those making assumptions assume they know something, but those making the most assumptions may know the least, because they are always assuming instead of learning.

Many of us in the space community have been lobbying against your half-baked schemes and attempting to convince Congress and the U.S. citizens that you are not working in the best interests of space. Today, we learned that Charlie Bolden opened his mouth and quoted your unusually misguided "muslim" comments. You have done more to convince Congress (and America) that you are completely out of touch than we could ever have done! My heartfelt thanks! Go Ares!

[…] about their contributions to science, Obama has given NASA’s mission a global warming spin. The Heritage Foundation reports: In January, we reported that President Obama was redefining NASA’s mission, and entirely […]

Is it possible that the message delivered by Obama through Bolden is code and its real meaning is that we are setting the stage for wealthy Arab muslim interests to finance NASA? If this is what's on the horizon, then we may become more beholden to those interests than Jimmy Carter (whose peanut business was bailed out by Arab money) could ever be.

Obama is ruining this country 1 agency at a time. They are trying to stuff in as much socialism as possible before they are all thrown out. Don't take this lightly America, we are being ruined. We are supposed to be a country of self sufficiency, independence and pride, not a country of unemployed, government check receiving dependents. This is the least qualified presidency and administration I have seen in my life. Nancy Pelosi (paraphrased): "Unemployment checks are the quickest way to stimulate the economy". Is every one of these people insane. They certainly don't have a clue about economics. As you watch state after state crumble under debt, somehow the Obamanomics people think you can still debt-spend your way into prosperity. They need to go back to community organizing, in communities nobody cares about before they ruin the hopes and aspirations of an entire country.

Where's the ACLU ? Isn't reaching out the the Muslim World contrary to our Contitution – mix of Church and State? What's the difference between Catholics and Muslims being given preference? This President just doesn't get it…He is an eleceted official in the USA. They cut NASA programs for this??? I understand they "found" money to give to Egypt to enhance their interest in SPACE.

If you are outraged that the administration is killing the space program, join the Coalition to Save Manned Space Exploration and help pressure Congress to:

1. Save the space shuttles. Each was designed for 100 launches, none have exceeded 38 launches.

2. Save the space station. The failure of the cooling system this month on the station is the alarm bell that without the shuttles to bring replacements, a critical failure of a large component which a single shuttle flight could replace could endanger the station.

3. Save the Constellation rockets which will take America to the Moon, Mars and beyond!

4. Adopt our bold timetable to go to the Moon and asteroids in THIS decade, and to Mars by 2022 or no later than 2025. It is a lie that we must wait until 2035 as the White House says, read our website for more details.

Without a grassroots campaign, the space program will be killed, and Russia and China will seize the opportunity to become the technological masters of the world. It will be other nations, not America, who will accomplish these great achievements, who will attract tech investments and gain high-tech jobs; and it will be the US that decends to the status a second-rate economic and military power in the world. Let's change the game!

@Coalition … You cannot proceed with your points without a massive … and probably wasteful … infusion of money.

1. The Shuttle is a great piece of machinery but the maintenance and launch costs are just too prohibitive for the utility provided.

2. The ISS is in the wrong orbit to use as a way station for the Moon. Again, the cost of maintaining it is not a good return on investment. We've learned some good construction techniques but I suggest that any experiments could be don't more cheaply with a Bigelow inflatable.

The ISS needs to either be moved to usable orbit (which we can do now that Russia is launching from Kourou), turn it over to our partners, sell it, or splash it.

3. Constellation is a dog. It highlights the poor leadership we've experienced for years at NASA. NASA was given the VSE. Instead of focusing on the goal … boots on the ground, Griffin focused on a new rocket when it really wasn't needed. A Saturn V restart would have been easier, faster, and cheaper … and good enuff for the mission. Better is the enemy of good enuff.

4. Here we can agree. We need a defined mission … not a flexible plan to nowhere which is what we've had since Apollo. And it is exactly where we've gone … nowhere.

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